The fact that Obama hasn't flip-flopped after all on a timelime for withdrawal from Iraq has someone feeling mighty testy, according to the Washington Post:
Michael E. O'Hanlon, a Democratic defense analyst at the Brookings Institution who has been an outspoken supporter of the war in Iraq, said he could not believe that Obama would put such a definitive timeline into print before a trip to Iraq, where he is to consult with Iraqi leaders and U.S. commanders.
"To say you're going to get out on a certain schedule -- regardless of what the Iraqis do, regardless of what our enemies do, regardless of what is happening on the ground -- is the height of absurdity," said O'Hanlon, who described himself as "livid." "I'm not going to go to the next level of invective and say he shouldn't be president. I'll leave that to someone else."
Huh. Well, I'm livid too, not least about the fact that Mike O'Hanlon has been critical to the project of keeping my country in a pointless war that will apparently never end. You'd hope that O'Hanlon would at least take into account the fact that the Iraqis seem to be demanding a timeline for US withdrawal; you'd hope, but of course you'd be wrong.
So please, Mike, go fuck yourself. How's that for going to the next level of invective?
Or why not just march over to Iraq, Mike, and punch out al-Maliki for daring to demand a withdrawal timeline?
The Post, again, for the full context of what set O'Hanlon off:
Ahead of today's speech and a planned trip to Iraq, Obama wrote an opinion article in yesterday's New York Times, saying that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's call last week for a withdrawal timetable is an opportunity the United States must embrace.
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"Only by redeploying our troops can we press the Iraqis to reach comprehensive political accommodation and achieve a successful transition to Iraqis' taking responsibility for the security and stability of their country," Obama wrote, pledging that he would stick to his plan to begin the withdrawal of one to two combat brigades per month upon taking office.
In the good old days of the original Versailles, at least they had duels, so that a certain percentage of these insufferable fools killed themselves off as a direct consequence of their own foolishness.
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